Over the past two weeks, we have seen significant news about our developing liquefied natural gas sector in British Columbia. Petronas, Malaysia’s national energy company, recently announced it will invest $16 billion in the sector, including a 750-kilometre pipeline, LNG plants and an export terminal near Prince Rupert. More recently, two super-major companies applied for export licences from the National Energy Board.

This is good news, and this sector will be critically important to British Columbia’s long-term economic well-being. I recently announced the creation of a new ministry of Natural Gas Development that will be focused on delivering the benefits of this new sector — benefits so significant that they will help us to create a B.C. Prosperity Fund to pay down our debt and build savings for future generations of British Columbians.

We are pursuing this opportunity vigorously, and equally focused on all our priorities: growing the economy and creating jobs in key sectors through an updated B.C. Jobs Plan, maintaining a balanced budget, and making vital investments in services that will ensure our province can continue to be a major participant in the global economy and protect our vulnerable citizens.

As we prepare to reintroduce a balanced 2013 budget, we have been transparent about the plans of our government. I prepared detailed mandate letters for each member of cabinet that correspond to the commitments we made during the campaign.

We have already acted on several of our promises.

Our new government includes a ministry whose mandate is focused on the promotion and advancement of British Columbia’s technology sector. This sector is a vital job creator. My government will ensure we are making the right investments in the sector, at the right time. We will work even more closely with technology leaders to ensure we are helping when we can and getting out of their way when we must.

We also have a new Ministry of International Trade, whose Minister Teresa Wat will ensure we are doing all we can to promote British Columbia’s products and resources to emerging economies around the world.

British Columbia’s recent external trade performance has been encouraging. Merchandise exports to other countries were up 4.2 per cent year-over-year in the first five months of 2013, outpacing the rise in imports of 3.3 per cent. Wood product exports surged impressively by 35 per cent. Exports of minerals and metals, along with machinery and equipment also increased strongly.

I am particularly bullish on opportunities in India, a country with the largest and fastest-growing middle class in the world and one where our trading opportunities are only just beginning to emerge.

Our new government is committed to making B.C.’s forest industry a sunrise industry again. We will continue every effort to keep the sector growing, including annual forest-industry trade missions to Asia to find new markets and create jobs at home. We are continuing to pursue and achieve aggressive targets to reduce the backlog of mineral exploration permits in British Columbia to ensure our ambitious Jobs Plan goal of eight new mines and nine expansions is achieved by 2015.

In B.C., we are setting records with our agriculture exports. But records are set to be beat. That’s our goal with our B.C. Agrifoods strategy, along with increased investments in buy-local programs that will ensure British Columbians enjoy the fruits of B.C. farmers’ labour.

Underscoring all of this economic activity is our work to ensure that British Columbians are at the front of the line for the one million new jobs expected to be generated by our economy in the coming decade — 43 per cent of which will require skilled workers.

We need to ensure British Columbians have the right skills to seize this prosperity. Our government is committed to doing all we can to create a skilled workforce that is in high demand. This is a major focus of our government, and an area where many British Columbians have shared important ideas and feedback. We need to think differently about how we can steer young people toward the trades.

We need to work with employers on what will work best to build skills in their workforce and continue to break down the barriers to hiring more apprentices. And we need to raise awareness about alternative ways that skills can be developed so that every British Columbian has the opportunity to succeed.

Our efforts in all of these areas will continue, as we work with business, labour and institutions at ensuring our educational opportunities are closely mapped to job-creating sectors.

A wealthy economy allows government to be rich in supporting citizens who need it. Our government is acting to improve life for families of all kinds, in every corner of British Columbia. Our work to ensure maximum performance of every economic sector will ensure we can provide these services for generations to come.

Christy Clark is the premier of British Columbia.

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